Striking a balance amongst various aspects of life can lead to immense success and enhancements in both personal and professional areas of one’s life. Although it is often seen that a lot of individuals mistake being occupied for being productive. In reality, productivity stems from effective time management. In this article, we will look at time management and productivity and how they interrelate, as well as practical steps to improve what a person is able to accomplish.

Definition of Productivity

Productivity is a measure of how much output a person or organization generates in comparison to the time given at the disposition. The formula that describes it is as follows:

Productivity = Output / Time

For instance, if a team creates 10 sets of a given product within 10 hours, the productivity translates to 1 unit each hour. Nonetheless, productivity can also be defined through these indicators:

• Labor productivity
• Capital productivity
• Total factor productivity
• Time-division productivity

To sum it up, increasing output doesn’t merely mean that one must put in more effort, it indicates that there is higher value in working in the right manner.

Self-Made Traits of Highly Productive Individuals

Highly productive people have specific traits that are both unique and uncommon. With that said, let’s review them.

Self-Awareness

People who tend to be more productive have a clear idea of their strengths as well as weaknesses. This consciousness about self now enables them to work over the strengths while actively working to improve aspects of their weak points.

Goal Awareness

Knowing what an individual wants to achieve is essential for them succeeding. Having well defined goals acts as a guide to be provided and thus enhances focus.

Value of Time

People tend to be productive because they are aware of the essence of their time as well as other people’s time which enables them to properly schedule their activities to achieve maximum efficiency.

Desire to Improve

People who are quite productive do not settle. They use their time to learn new skills or refine the ones they already have.

Time Division Productivity:

When it comes to productivity, not all hours are equal. It is crucial to know how your time gets divided during the day. Time-division productivity is split into three categories:

Green Time (Highly Productive Time)

You are at peak productivity when in Green Time. This is time spent on high value activities like sales calls, client meetings or delivery of key projects. 50% of your time doing work should be dedicated to Green Time.

Yellow Time (Semi-Productive Time)

Yellow Time refers to tasks like team meetings, report preparation, or routine check-ins. These activities are necessary but don’t directly drive your goals forward. Most of the time, Yellow Time takes up 40-45% of your workday.

Red Time (Non-Productive Time)

Red Time is the time you spend doing things that do not further your objectives like, taking breaks, socializing, or web surfing. Strive to keep Red Time to no more than 5-10% of your working day in order to avoid wasting time.

How To Use Your Time Better

For you to be as productive as possible, you are going to need to make a few changes in your day to day routines. Below are a few actionable tips to increase productivity:

1. Reduce Red Time

The first step to increasing your productivity is to cut down on Red time. Even if you allocate five minutes every day towards unproductive tasks, over the course of an entire year, those few minutes will contribute to a considerable waste of time. Prevent superfluous breaks or diversions from work to save your time.

2. Concentrate on Yellow Time

Yellow Time is being hybrid productive but still important. These activities still fall under the productivity category so treat them as such but look for ways to do them faster and more efficiently. For instance, do reports in bulk, or have all meetings in the morning or in the afternoon to reduce interruptions.

3. Pour More Into Green Time

Most productive people devote large chunks of time of their day to Green Time. Determine what your most valuable tasks are and prioritize them so you are actively working towards your goals.

4. Instilling an Organized Approach

Construct a set of rules that monitors your productivity by implementing a system which classifies your activities under Green, Yellow and Red. This system enables you to keep track of your time and make necessary changes when required.

Achieving High Performer Status within an Organization

In order to achieve that high performance, there needs to be a clear set objective that relates directly to improvement. Here is how some of the targets can be achieved in order to become a high performer:

Red Time Needs to be Minimized.

Set a goal to limit the time spent on leisure activities and other distractions that have nothing to do with work.

Use Tracking Focused Yellow Time.

Target units of time towards activities that lean towards essentials for smooth operations Yellow Time and these always need to be worked on.

Maximize the Impact of Green Time.

Use most of the hours of the work day towards spending time doing high-value tasks such as decision-making or strategic planning.

Make Note of All Your Achievements.

Go over your productivity from time to time to analyze it and change your time management plans. Improvement in targets should be over a period of time.

Target Units of Time to Have Maximized Productivity.

Try implementing these steps in order to make these changes:

Try connecting your tasks to time zones.

Make a categorization of your activities into Green, Yellow, and Red Time to make tracked focuses for the day.

Allocate the earlier portion of the day to Green Time.

Start your day with the tasks that need utmost concentration and energy as this is when you are at your best.

Track deadlines and targets.

Remember to note down every target and the deadline that you set for achieving it.

Evaluate productivity quarterly.

Look at the metrics of your productivity on a quarterly basis to understand how shifts are changing long-term.

Conclusion:

You are likely to see an enhancement in productivity by following the mentioned instructions:

• Show self-restraint and better management with your time.
• Allocate half of your time on value-added tasks during the working hours.
• Make greater strides towards achieving the targets you have set out for yourself.
• Increase Green Time for decision making and advancement in your goals.

Categories: Time Management